Hello everyone! I am thrilled to announce that I will once again be miniaturized along with my submarine and take you on another Fantastic Voyage inside the human body. In case you have forgotten the details of our last journey, my sub and I will be shrunken down to be 8 microns long. This time I will be swallowed by Fred, a 55 year old man, while he enjoys a hamburger, French fries, and root beer. As I pilot my way through his body, I will be describing the process of digestion and what major structures I see and come across. Can you imagine being part of someone’s meal? Neither can I, yet here I am being chewed and mixed with a juicy burger by Fred’s teeth. As Fred enjoys his meal, the first part of digestion is happening in his oral cavity. Fred’s burger is a mixture of carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins. As he chews and moves his food around with the help of his tongue, I can see his saliva coming from different angles and mixing with his food. There are three pairs of salivary glands, the parotids, submandibulars, and sublinguals. They secrete most (about 1L) of the saliva produced each day in an adult. (Thibodeau & Patton, 2008, pg397) Saliva contains mucus and a digestive enzyme called salivary amylase. As you can see here, the process of chewing combined with this mucus is allowing the food to break down into a small bolus. After this process I am now mixed up with the bolus and with the help of Fred’s tongue, I have began moving down into the pharynx and then down to this muscular tube called the esophagus. The esophagus is a stretchy pipe, about 25 centimeters that carries food and liquids from the throat to the stomach for digestion after it has been chewed and chemically softened in the mouth. (InnerBody, 2013) ... ... middle of paper ... ...nce: Thibodeau, G., Patton, K. (2008). Structure and Function of the Body (13th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby Elsevier Publishing. InnerBody, Digestive System. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.innerbody.com/image/digeov.html KidsHealth (1995). Your Digestive System, On the way down. Retrieved from http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/digestive_system.html# Inner Body, Superior Mesenteric Artery. (1999). Retrieved from http://www.innerbody.com/image_dige08/card25.html Coffman, M. A. (n.d.). The Absorption of Food by the Human Body | Healthy Eating | SF Gate. Retrieved from http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/absorption-food-human-body-4100.html Oza, N., & Cooper, D. (2011, May 18). How Does the Human Body Maintain Homeostasis? How Chemicals and Organs Work Together to Keep the Body in Balance. Retrieved from http://www.brighthub.com/science/medical/articles/111342.aspx
Galen, . (n.d.). On the Usefulness of the Body. (M. Tallmadge May, Trans.). N.p.: Cornell University Press. Retrieved March 25, 2014
Introduction to Human Anatomy and Physiology Third Edition by Eldra Pear Soloman (pgs. 51 and 58)
Taylor, Richard. "The Mind as a Function of the Body." Exploring Philosophy. 4th ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2012. 131-138. Print.
The food digestion plays an undeniably important role in our body system, which is the main way for the human kind to gain nutrients and energy in order to growth, repairs the body cells, and carry out the daily routine (National Institutes of Health, 2013). The foods and drinks that people consume are required to be turned into the smaller nutrient-molecules before the blood absorbs and carries the various nutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals to the body cells (National Institutes of Health, 2013). According to National Institutes of Health (2013), the decomposition of food nutrients are completed through the digestive system which form by the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, also defined as digestive tract, and along liver, pancreas and gallbladder as well. The GI tract is made up of a series of hollow organs with the connection from mouth to anus, which consisting buccal cavity (mouth), esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and large intestine. Based on Batrisya (2013), the food digestive process are classified into four stages, that are ingestion, digestion, absorption, and egestion or elimination (refer to Figure 1 in Appendix 1).
Mouth- Digestion begins in the mouth. Physical actions, such as chewing, breaks food into small parts so it can be easily digested. Next, salivary glands secrete an enzyme called saliva to mix with food to start the breaking down of carbohydrates (WebMD (2).) From the mouth, food travels to the pharynx, or throat, by swallowing,
Marieb, E.N., Hoehn, K. 2013. Human Anatomy and Physiology. 9th edition. Pearson Education Inc. ISPN-13: 978-0-321-74326-8.
...ve eaten, to break down the food into a liquid mixture and to slowly empty that liquid mixture into the small intestine. Once the bolus has entered your stomach it begins to be broken down with the help of the strong muscles and gastric juices which are located in the walls of your stomach. The gastric juices are made up of hydrochloric acid, water, and mucus- and the main enzyme inside of your stomach is what is known as pepsin, which needs to be surrounded in an acidic setting in order to do its job, that is to break down protein. Once the bolus has been inside of your stomach for long enough it begins to form into a liquid called chyme, and what keeps the chyme from flowing back into our esophagus are ring shaped muscles known as sphincters located at the beginnings and ends of the stomach and they have the task of controlling the flow of solids and liquids.
7. Vander A.J, Sherman J and Luciano D.S (2004) Human Physiology: The Mechanisms of Body Function, 9th edition, McGraw-Hill, New York- Accessed 22/11/2013.
The digestive system is interesting, complex and truly important to our daily lives. Without the digestive system energy and nutrients vital to the body could never reach body cells and a person wouldn't be able to do all the things they like to do, such as study, play sports, and hang out with friends. The body uses various organs and chemicals to break down food. The breakdown of food he... ...
Phelan, J. (2011). What Is Life? A Guide To Biology with Physiology. New York: Peter Marshall.
The digestive system has of a chain of linked organs that work with each other to digest, and break down food into molecules that are put in the circulatory system. Then takes them to the body’s tissues. The most important structures in the digestive system are the tongue, mouth, intestines, esophagus, stomach, and anus. The liver, gallbladder, and pancreas are with the digestive system also.
Hi there. My name is Albert and this is my adventurous story of my journey through a human. I was a delicious gourmet hamburger with fresh ingredients like salad, mustard and an angus beef pattie. I was dumped into a family feed box labelled with a massive golden arched ‘M’. Now, I’m quite an intelligent burger, unlike my other food companions and I love studying about the fascinating human digestive system when I went to Burgerton College. I’m here to tell you first-hand about my digestive journey into the human body! Here is a map of the human digestive system for your convenience to pinpoint where I am in my journey as I am recounting my story.
Mate, G. (2003). When the Body Says No. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
The digestive system is a very important system in the human body. It is a group of organs that work together to turn food into energy and nutrients in the entire body. The food that was chewed in a humans’ mouth now passes through a long tube that is inside of the body that is known as the alimentary canal. The alimentary canal is made of the oral cavity, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small intestines, and large intestines. Those few things are not the only important accessories of the digestive system there is also the teeth, tongue, salivary glands, liver, gallbladder, and pancreas.